Meeting in Oleiros: the farewell, on the 29th

Saturday wasn’t really part of the meeting but it was a day to pick up and go for some last walks around the city. We all met at the beginning of the evening at the train station so say bye to our visitants. It was a really nice and warm time where there was laugher, tears, hugs… from here we’d like to say to all of our friends ‘see you soon’.

Meeting in Oleiros: Visit to Santiago, on the 28th

Friday was the last day of our meeting so we decided to go on a little trip to Santiago as many of our Czech friends had never been there yet. A group of 35 Spanish and Czech people left really early in the morning. We spent all morning visiting different places and during the afternoon we walked freely along the city.
One of the most important places we were to in the morning was the Cathedral, place where we went after having started our visit in Plaza del Obradoiro, and after that we went to some other places such as Gelmírez Palace, the Royal Hospital, Rajoy’s Palace and Fonseca School. From the last one mentioned we went to all the different squares which are placed in the surroundings of the Cathedral to finally make a stop in Pórtico de la Gloria. To end up with the visit, we went for a walk till the Alameda, for our Czech friends to get to know the centre of the city better.
After this organised visit we went for lunch, we went shopping and went for a walk to eventually come back to Coruña.

Meeting in Oleiros: Visiting A Coruña, on the 27th

We spent all Thursday day visiting Coruña city. In the first hours of the morning, we went to the tower of Hércules. A guide walked us explaining the whole history about this well-known monument of ours, and even though getting to the upper part of the tower was hard work, the views of the city we got from up there were absolutely worth it. Straight after, we went to Casa de los Peces (‘The Fish House’, which is an aquarium), where we visited all its facilities. We all were astonished by the seals’ show and the Nautilus, and more concretely, our Czech friends; they loved every bit of it!

We left again and walked to  the centre of the city where we spent pretty much a lot of time to have lunch. We re-started the visit at 16:00. In this occasion, Mª Luisa Fernández, one of our history teachers and to whom we’d like to say thank you from here, guided us through the city telling us about its history and curiosities. From the Obelisco, we walked along the Dársena and we visited the Ciudad Vieja (‘Old City’, the old part of town). Our day got to its end by last seeing Puerta Real. It was 18:30 and we all were exhausted.

Meeting in Oleiros: Music Festival, on the 26th

On Wednesday we celebrated our little meeting, it was the day of the Festival ‘Acercamiento a través de la música popular’ (Approaching through traditional music). During the first part of the morning the rehearsal took place: little ones, older ones, guest students… they all spent a lot of time rehearsing.
 

After the break time, the party got started and the headmistress launched the festival, which was followed by the so diverse performances:
- A group of Primaria students sang: ‘Muñeira de Alén’ and the maneo ‘Foliada de Nadela’ directed by the teacher Felipe Sar.

- A group of ESO students performed: ‘Compañeiro’ by Fuxan os Ventos  and ‘Pandeirada de Tella’ directed by the teacher Arantxa Concheiro.

- The Czech quire performed: ‘Komáři se ženili’, ‘Já jsem muzikant’, ‘Černé oči’ and ‘Proměny’ directed by the teacher Radek.

- And the cultural group of A'meda do Castro (Sada).

The Festival allowed us to create a place where through the music, different cultures, peoples and languages got mixed.
After the festival the guest students, their ‘siblings’, some more pupils and some teachers went and had something to eat at the guests dining room. From here, we’d like to thank all those who worked hard to make this meal as special as it was.
After having eaten we started the afternoon programme, we visited the cultural centre A Fábrica, where the educational councillor, Sandra Fernández, welcomed us to Oleiros Town Hall. Before we left A Fábrica, we could visit the Photo Exhibition of our project, which was placed there.

After that we took a route that would lead us from Santa Cristina to Santa Cruz, getting to see different emblematic spots of our Town Hall. From here, we’d like to thank the responsible for European Projects, of Senior University of  A Coruña, Francisco Ascón, for having been our guide during that route.
.This walk allowed us to talk, get to know each other, have fun… there was a good climate of coexistence. We finished our route in Santa Cruz’s Castle, after a brief walk.

Comenius Meeting in Oleiros

Last September, as you all know, we held a Comenius meeting in our school. There were 9 Czech pupils and two of their teachers, who lived with us for almost a week. Here begins a series of posts about the experience.

Meeting in Oleiros: The arrival, on 25th
Our friends arrived on the first morning train from Madrid. We went to look for them and share with them a good breakfast. 

They were very tired but also very excited about coming over to our school, as well as getting the meeting started. When they got to our school, all of them were welcomed by our headmistress, who told them about our school and asked them about theirs and their country.

Then we went with four of our pupils to see the school. A little while before the break time the big moment arrived: they met their host siblings. It was a very special moment as the pupils had only met each other online and meeting face-to-face was special. This was followed by the presentations and the visits of the centre accompanied by many nerves and laughter.
Late in the morning we went back to class. Then we divided the pupils into several groups. The Czech ones attended a Spanish language lesson with pupils of the first year of high school .The Czech teachers went to teach 4th ESO, Jana tried to teach English and Radek tried to teach French. We genuinely believe that the experience was amazing for everyone.
After finishing the school time, foster parents came for the host pupils. Everyone went home to rest from the long trip, but we also gave them time to go for a walk.